During what years did the Seven Years' War last? Seven Years' War. Major battles in Europe

The outcome of the war for Austrian inheritance(1740–1748) turned Prussia into a great European power.

Main reasons for the war:

1) aggressive plans of Frederick II to conquer political hegemony in Central Europe and acquire neighboring territories;

2) the clash of Prussia’s aggressive policy with the interests of Austria, France and Russia; they wanted the weakening of Prussia, its return to the borders that existed before the Silesian Wars. Thus, the coalition participants fought the war for the restoration of the old system of political relations on the continent, disrupted by the results of the War of the Austrian Succession;

3) intensification of the Anglo-French struggle for colonies.

Opposing parties:

1) anti-Prussian coalition– Austria, France, Russia, Spain, Saxony, Sweden;

2) Prussian supporters– Great Britain and Portugal.

Frederick II began a preventive war with an attack 29 August 1756 to Saxony, borrowed and ruined it. Thus began the second largest war of the era - Seven Years' War 1756–1763 The victories of the Prussian army of Frederick II in 1757 at Rosbach and Leuthen were nullified by the victory of Russian-Austrian troops in the Battle of Kunersdorf in 1759. Frederick II even intended to abdicate the throne, but the situation changed dramatically due to the death of Empress Elizabeth Petrovna (1762) . Her successor was Peter III, an enthusiastic admirer of Frederick II, who renounced all claims to Prussia. In 1762 he entered into an alliance with Prussia and withdrew from the war. Catherine II terminated it, but resumed the war. The two main conflict lines of the Seven Years' War - colonial And European- the two peace treaties concluded in 1763 also corresponded. On February 15, 1763, the Peace of Hubertusburg was concluded Austria and Saxony with Prussia based on the status quo. The borders of states in Europe remained unchanged. On November 10, 1763, the Peace of Paris was concluded at Versailles. between England, on the one hand, and France and Spain, on the other. The Peace of Paris confirmed all treaties between countries since the Peace of Westphalia. The Peace of Paris, along with the Peace of Hubertusburg, ended the Seven Years' War.

Main results of the war:

1. Great Britain's victory over France, because overseas England took possession of the richest colonies of France and became the largest colonial power.

2. The decline in the prestige and actual role of France in European affairs, which led to its complete neglect in deciding the fate of one of its main satellites – Poland.

The Seven Years' War is the most spectacular and large-scale military conflict of the 18th century. It began in 1756 and lasted, oddly enough, 7 years, ending in 1763. An interesting fact is that the countries involved in the conflict were located on all continents known at that time. Australia and Antarctica have not yet been explored.

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The main participants of the Seven Years' War

Quite a few states took part in the Seven Years' War, but it is worth highlighting only the main ones that carried out the most significant actions:

• Habsburg Austria;
• Prussia;
• France;
• Great Britain;
• Russian empire.

Causes of conflicts

The first preconditions for war appeared in connection with the unresolved geopolitical problems of Europe. This happened after the War of the Austrian Succession in 1740 - 1748.

The main reasons for the start of the Seven Years' War were:

1. Conflicts between the French kingdom and Great Britain regarding overseas possessions. That is, states could not divide the colonies.
2. Austria-Hungary and Germany were in conflict over Silesian territories.

Formation of coalitions

After the War of the Austrian Succession and Europe was divided into two groups of states contradicting each other:

• Habsburg Coalition, which included:
  • Austria-Hungary;
  • Great Britain;
  • Netherlands;
  • Russia.
• Anti-Habsburg coalition, which included:
  • Germany;
  • France;
  • Saxony.

Such unfriendly relations persisted for quite some time, until the mid-1750s. There were only a few changes between the coalitions: representatives of the Netherlands chose to remain neutral regarding the coalitions, and Saxony expressed an open reluctance to conduct military action, however, it maintained an alliance with Russia and Austria.

In 1756, the process of the so-called “diplomatic coup” was launched. It was marked the following events:

Throughout January, negotiations took place between Germany and England, which ended with the joint signing of a subsidiary agreement. A distinctive feature of these negotiations was that they took place at a strictly secret level and were not reported on the world stage. The terms of this agreement implied that the military forces of the Kingdom of Prussia had to defend the possessions of Great Britain, in return they received a banal monetary payment.

State, which forced us to agree to this agreement English king, this is France. She was Britain's most obvious and dangerous enemy.

After the terms of the subsidiary agreement were announced to the whole world, further political changes took place. Two new political groups emerged, whose interests opposed each other:

• Austria-Hungary, Russia, French Kingdom;
• Great Britain, Kingdom of Prussia.

These were the obvious and main participants in the Seven Years' War. Of course, many other countries took part in the war, which will be mentioned later, however, these are the main participants.

Events of the Seven Years' War

The main personality of the war was Frederick II the Great of Prussia. It was he who started the fighting. In August 1756, Prussian troops invaded the territory of Saxony and began aggressive actions. This marked the beginning of the great war.

Map of the Seven Years' War: fighting took place on the following continents:

• Europe;
• North America;
• India.

North America

In January 1755, the English king gave the order to begin a military policy towards France. The first clash is considered to be the events that took place in the Canadian region in North America, when British troops tried to intercept a convoy of the French kingdom. However, the attempt was unsuccessful and the troops collapsed.

As soon as representatives France learned of this incident, all diplomatic relations between the French and English kings were severed and the war officially began.

Key events on this continent occurred in 1759 at the Battle of Quebec. This battle ended with the capture of the French outpost, which was located in Canada. At the same time, Martinique was captured. It is the main center of trade in the West Indies, owned by the French.

Actions in Europe

Oddly enough, the main battles took place in Europe. It is worth noting that most of the clashes took place against the Prussian king Frederick II. It is noteworthy that representatives of Great Britain contributed their troops weakest to the Seven Years' War. The main investments were in the form of cash.

The rulers of the countries fighting against Prussia made an unforgivable mistake, which led to complications of the war. The fact is that the German state gave way already at the beginning of the battles, however, for some reasons the Allied victory did not happen:

1. A full-fledged union was not formed between the rulers of Austria, France and Russia, which led to a lack of coherence in actions.
2. The commanders-in-chief of Russia did not have the opportunity to take proactive actions, since they were directly dependent on the conference at the Imperial Court.

Key battles fought in Europe:

• Battle of Rosbach (November 1757);
• under Zorndorf (1758);
• under Kunersdorf (August 1759);
• capture of Berlin in October 1760;
• Battle of Freiberg in October 1762.

It is quite remarkable that during the Seven Years' War, Prussia had an excellent opportunity to show its military power, because they were able to confront the three largest states of the continent at once. These included Russia, Austria-Hungary and France.

Battles in Asia and their results

The surprising fact is that the war has affected even this continent. It all started here in 1757, when confrontations broke out between Bengal and England. Initially, upon learning of the outbreak of hostilities in Europe, England announced maintaining its neutrality, however, they very quickly began to attack the French.

Since the position of the French kingdom in Asia was fragile, it could not present a proper confrontation and suffered a serious defeat in India.

Results of the Seven Years' War

So, over the course of seven years, serious hostilities broke out between many countries on the territory of three known continents. Final years The Seven Years' War is considered to be:

1. February 10, 1762 - Treaty of Paris between England and France.
2. On February 15, 1763, exactly one year after the Treaty of Paris, representatives of Austria and Prussia were ready for negotiations. A peace treaty was concluded between these states in Hubertusburg.

The war is finally over, bringing joy to the whole world. People needed to recover from such disastrous hostilities.

Key results wars look like this:

This world experience shows all future generations that war is always terrible and bad. It takes the lives of many people, and in the end gives nothing in return. Nowadays it is very important understand this and be able to learn from the mistakes of the past.

After the Thirty Years' War, the nature of confrontations between countries in the world began to change. Local conflicts gave way to wars of an international nature. For example, this was the Seven Years' War, which began in Europe in 1756. It was an attempt by the Prussian king Frederick II to extend his influence over most of the continent. Prussia’s aspirations were supported by England, and such a powerful “tandem” was opposed by a coalition of four states. These were Austria, Saxony, Sweden, France, supported by Russia.

The war lasted until 1763, ending with the signing of a series of peace treaties that influenced the political development of the countries.

Reason and reasons for the war

The official reason for the war was the dissatisfaction of many countries with the results of the redistribution of the “Austrian heritage”. This process lasted eight years - from 1740 to 1748, leaving the states of Europe dissatisfied with the new territorial acquisitions. The political and economic situation of that time had a significant influence on the formation of contradictions between England and France, Austria and Prussia. So by the end of the 1750s. Two groups of reasons formed that provoked the beginning of the Seven Years' War:

• England and France could not divide their colonial possessions among themselves. Countries constantly competed with each other on this issue, and not only at the political level. There were also armed clashes that claimed the lives of the population in the colonies and soldiers of both armies.
• Austria and Prussia argued over Silesia, which was Austria's most developed industrial region, taken from it as a result of the conflict of 1740-1748.

Participants in the confrontation

Prussia, which fueled the fire of war, concluded a coalition agreement with England. This group was opposed by Austria, France, Saxony, Sweden and Russia, which provided significant support to the coalition. Neutrality was occupied by Holland, which participated in the War of the Austrian Succession.

Main fronts of the war

Historians identify three directions in which the enemy’s military actions took place. Firstly, this is the Asian front, where events unfolded in India. Secondly, this is the North American front, where the interests of France and England collided. Thirdly, the European front, on which many military battles took place.

Start of hostilities

Frederick II had been preparing for war for several years. First of all, he increased the number of his own troops and carried out a complete reorganization. As a result, the king received a modern and combat-ready army for that time, whose soldiers made a number of successful conquests. In particular, Silesia was taken away from Austria, which provoked a conflict between the participants of the two coalitions. The ruler of Austria, Maria Theresa, wanted to return the region, so she turned to France, Sweden and Russia for help. The Prussian army could not withstand such a united army, which became the reason for the search for allies. Only England was able to resist both Russia and France at the same time. For its “services” the British government wanted to secure possessions on the mainland.

Prussia was the first to begin hostilities, attacking Saxony, which was strategically important for Frederick the Second:

• A springboard for further advance into Austria.
• Providing constant supplies of food and water for the Prussian army.
• Using the material and economic potential of Saxony to the benefit of Prussia.

Austria tried to repel the attack of the Prussian army, but everything was unsuccessful. No one could stand against Frederick's soldiers. Maria Theresa's army turned out to be unable to hold back Prussia's attacks, so it kept losing in local skirmishes.

Within a short time, Frederick II managed to capture Moravia and Bohemia, briefly entering Prague. The Austrian army began to fight back only in the summer of 1757, when the Austrian military commander Daun, using his entire military reserve, ordered constant shelling of the Prussian army. The consequence of such actions was the surrender of the troops of Frederick the Second and his gradual retreat to the city of Nimburg. In order to preserve the remnants of his army, the king ordered the obligation of Prague to be removed and to return to the border of his own state.

European front 1758-1763: main events and battles

An allied army of almost 300 thousand people opposed the army of the Prussian king. Therefore, Frederick II decided to divide the coalition that fought against her. First, the French, who were in the principalities neighboring Austria, were defeated. This allowed Prussia to invade Silesia again.

Strategically, Frederick II was several steps ahead of his enemies. He managed to bring chaos into the ranks of the army of the French, Lorraine and Austrians with deceptive attacks. Thanks to a well-planned operation, Silesia came under Prussian rule in the second.

In the summer of 1757, Russian troops began to actively take part in the war, trying to capture the eastern regions of the Prussian state through Lithuania. By August of the same year, it became clear that Frederick the Second would lose the battle for Königsberg and East Prussia. But Russian General Apraksin refused to continue military operations, citing the fact that the army was at a disadvantage. As a result of a successful campaign, the Russian army retained only the port of Memel, where the base of the fleet of the Russian Empire was located for the entire period of the war.

During 1758-1763 Many battles took place, the main ones being:

• 1758 - East Prussia and Königsberg are retaken from the Russians, the decisive battle took place near the village of Zorndorf.
• The battle near the village of Kunersdorf, where a major battle between the Prussian army and the united Russian-Astrian army took place. After the battle, only three thousand soldiers remained from the 48 thousand army of Frederick the Second, with whom the king was forced to retreat across the Oder River. Another part of the Prussian military personnel were scattered across neighboring settlements. It took the king and his commanders several days to get them back into action. The allies did not pursue the army of Frederick II, since the casualties were tens of thousands, many soldiers were wounded and went missing. After the Battle of Kunersdorf, Russian troops redeployed to Silesia, which helped the Austrians drive out the Prussian army.
• In 1760-1761 There were practically no military operations; the nature of the war can be described as inactive. Even the fact that Russian troops temporarily occupied Berlin in 1760, but then surrendered it without a fight, did not cause an intensification of hostilities. The city was returned back to Prussia because it was of strategic importance.
• In 1762, Peter the Third ascended to the Russian throne and replaced Elizaveta Petrovna. This radically affected the further course of the war. The Russian emperor worshiped the military genius of Frederick the Second, so he signed a peace treaty with him. At this time, England destroyed the French fleet, taking it out of the war. Peter the Third was killed in July 1762 on the orders of his wife, after which Russia returned to the war again, but did not continue it. Catherine the Second did not want to allow Austria to strengthen in Central Europe.
• February 1763 The Austro-Prussian peace treaty was signed.

North American and Asian fronts

In North America, confrontations took place between England and France, which could not divide the spheres of influence in Canada. The French did not want to lose their possessions in this part of the North American continent, so they in every possible way strained relations with the British. Numerous Indian tribes who tried to survive in the undeclared war were also drawn into the confrontation.

The battle that finally put everything in its place took place in 1759 near Quebec. After this, the French finally lost their colonies in North America.

A clash of interests between the two countries also occurred in Asia, where Bengal rebelled against the British. This happened in 1757, at the very beginning of the Seven Years' War. France, to which Bengal was subject, declared neutrality. But this did not stop the British; they began to attack French outposts more and more often.

The war on several fronts and the lack of a strong army in Asia led to the fact that the government of this country was unable to adequately organize the defense of its Asian possessions. The British hastened to take advantage of this by landing their troops on the island of Martinique. It was the center of French trade in the West Indies, and as a result of the Seven Years' War, Martinique was ceded to Britain.

The results of the confrontation between England and France were enshrined in a peace treaty, which was signed in early February 1762 in Paris.

Results of the war

In fact, the war stopped in 1760, but local confrontations continued for almost three more years. Peace treaties between the countries were signed in 1762 and 1763, and on their basis the system of relations in Europe was then created after the Seven Years' War. The results of this conflict changed, once again, changed the political map of Europe, slightly adjusting the borders and reformatting the balance of power in the second half of the 18th century. in international relations.

The main consequences of the war include:

• The redistribution of colonial possessions in Europe, which caused a redistribution of spheres of influence between England and France.
• England became the largest colonial empire in Europe, thanks to the displacement of France from Northern Europe and Europe.
• France in Europe lost many territories, which caused a weakening of the state's position in Europe.
• In France, during the Seven Years' War, the prerequisites for the start of the revolution gradually took shape, which began in 1848.
• Prussia formalized its claims to Austria in the form of a peace treaty, under the terms of which Silesia, like neighboring territories, came under the rule of Frederick the Second.
• Territorial contradictions in Central Europe have intensified.
• Russia has gained invaluable experience in conducting military operations in Europe against the leading states of the continent.
• A galaxy of outstanding commanders was formed in Europe, who then began to bring victories to their states.
• Russia did not receive any territorial gains, but its position in Europe became stronger and stronger.
• A large number of people died. According to average estimates, about two million military personnel could have died in the Seven Years' War.
• In the British colonies in North America, taxes were increased several times to pay for military expenses. This caused resistance from the colonists, who in Canada and the North American states tried to develop industry, build roads, and invest money in the economy of the colonies. As a result, the preconditions began to take shape for the struggle against British rule on the continent.
• The Asian colonies of France became the property of the British monarchy.

The victory of Prussia in the Seven Years' War could not have been predicted by the talented commanders of that time. Yes, Frederick II was a brilliant strategist and tactician, but his army was on the verge of complete defeat many times. Historians believe that a number of factors prevented the final defeat of the Prussian army:

• The allied coalition created against Prussia was not effective. Each country defended its own interests, which prevented it from uniting at the right moment and acting as a single force against the enemy.
• Strong Prussia was a beneficial ally for Russia, England, and France, so the states agreed to the seizure of Silesia and Austria.

Thanks to this, the consequences of the Seven Years' War had a serious impact on the situation in Europe. A strong Prussian state arose in the central part of the continent, with centralized power. Thus, Frederick the Second managed to overcome the separatism of individual principalities, get rid of fragmentation within the country, focusing on the unity of the German lands. Prussia subsequently became the central core of the formation of a state such as Germany.

The war between France and England in Europe (part of the Seven Years' War) began with a French expedition against the island of Minorca, which belonged to the British; Richelieu was appointed commander of the expedition, because King Louis XV was pleased to elevate this most trusted servant of his, and the Marquise Pompadour It was nice to remove a man who was dangerous to her from Paris. Richelieu received a command with unusually extensive powers. The British were deceived by false outfits for an expedition to the North Sea and threats of landing in England. But given the depravity of the French court, even a military expedition was considered simply entertainment and amusement: a lot of nobles and seven or eight hundred women went with Richelieu to travel at public expense (in April 1756).

The English garrison on Minorca was very weak and could not defend the island without reinforcements, and the London Admiralty was late in sending the fleet, so Bing, the commander of this fleet, no longer had time to prevent the landing of the French. Moreover, Byng's fleet consisted of only ten ships, very poor and poorly armed. The English garrison defended itself with glory for two months, but was forced to surrender because Byng, having met the French fleet at Minorca, did not dare to give battle, preferring caution to courage, against the principle of the English sailors. Thanks to this, the French began the Seven Years' War with a victory: they captured Minorca and, in addition, could boast that the British for the first time avoided a naval battle with a fleet that was slightly superior in number of ships to their fleet. The English nation was irritated by the loss of Minorca and the admiral's course of action. The Ministry sacrificed Bing; it brought him before a military court, obtained a death sentence against him, and hanged the admiral. The French, on the contrary, were jubilant; Voltaire and other writers praised the heroism of Richelieu, who on this expedition was just as shameful in wasting public money and abusing power as before in Genoa.

From Minorca he returned to Paris to ask for the main command over the army appointed in Germany, but was too late: d'Estre had already been appointed commander-in-chief. However, the army itself, for which the commander was already ready, had not yet been assembled - a fact that is quite original. The Austrians were also not yet ready to start fighting. True, before the start of the Seven Years' War, they fielded two armies in Bohemia, but these armies did not yet have cavalry, artillery, or the most necessary military supplies. Therefore, the powers that entered into an alliance against Prussia would probably spend a lot of time just preparing for war. But the Prussian king, having learned that he was preparing against him, secretly prepared his army for a campaign and on August 29, 1756 he suddenly invaded Saxony from three sides. Thus began the Seven Years' War on the continent.

Frederick II the Great of Prussia - the main hero of the Seven Years' War

When Frederick invaded Saxony, the first minister of that state, Brühl, withdrew his army to Pirne, on the Bohemian border. The Saxon army was so reduced by Bruhl that it had only 7,000 men; in Pirna she took a strong position, but suffered from lack of everything. The entire Saxon court, except the queen and princesses, also moved to Pirna. On September 9, the Prussians entered Dresden. They immediately broke down the doors of the secret archive, despite the personal resistance of the queen, and took the original documents there, copies of which were delivered to Friedrich Menzel. These papers did not at all prove the alliance of Saxony with other powers for the destruction of Prussia, which Frederick spoke about; therefore they could not justify his attacks on Saxony; but it was justified by the need to defend itself, in which Frederick was actually placed.

Upon news of the outbreak of the Seven Years' War and the Prussian invasion of Saxony, the Austrian commander Brown hastened to Pirna with the stronger of the two armies assembled by the Habsburgs in Bohemia. He wanted to rescue the Saxons trapped in Pirna. Friedrich came out to meet him, and on October 1, 1756, under Lobositz there was a battle; it was unfavorable for the Austrians, and they retreated. Frederick established himself in Saxony. The Saxons remained locked in Pirna, suffered a shortage of provisions and therefore could not wait for the Austrians to come to their rescue again; they surrendered. The most difficult condition for them was that Frederick forced them to enter Prussian service. Frederick dealt with Saxony very harshly throughout the Seven Years' War. He constantly took heavy indemnities from its inhabitants; for example, the city of Leipzig paid 500,000 thalers in 1756, and another 900,000 thalers in the first three months of the following year. Young Saxon villagers were forced to serve against their sovereign, and if any of them fled from this compulsion, his relatives were punished with a fine. The Elector fled with Count Brühl to his Polish kingdom. Frederick did not find it convenient to transfer the war to Bohemia, because winter was already approaching. Another Prussian army, under the command Schwerin, which entered Bohemia from Silesia, also retreated.

Seven Years' War in 1757

Brown could take advantage of the winter to finish equipping his army, while another Austrian commander, Daun, was meanwhile gathering a new army. Thus, in the spring of 1757, Austria could field very large forces against the Prussians. But fortunately for Frederick, Brown, a good general, was subordinated to Prince Charles of Lorraine, although the prince had already sufficiently proven his inability in the War of the Austrian Succession.

The French and Russians also equipped their troops to continue the Seven Years' War. The French promised subsidies to the Swedish oligarchs, and Sweden announced that it, as one of the powers that guaranteed the Peace of Westphalia of 1648, must stand up for Saxony and take revenge on Frederick with an armed hand. But a lot of time passed before Sweden took part in the Seven Years' War: the Swedish oligarchs did not spend the money they received from the French on the war at all. The first French army under the command of d'Estrées crossed the Rhine near Düsseldorf on April 4, 1757. The second army was gathering in Alsace under the command of Richelieu. The third was commanded by the Prince de Soubise, also one of the close associates of Louis and Pompadour; he was supposed to unite with the German imperial army when the imperial The Diet of Regensburg will declare the King of Prussia guilty of violating the imperial peace and starting the Seven Years' War.

Seven Years' War. Map

Imperial Diet this time he made a decision faster than usual. Saxony turned to the emperor and the empire with a complaint against Prussia in September 1756, and three months later the matter was already resolved. The Diet did not declare Frederick an enemy of the empire, as his opponents demanded: the Protestant members of the empire did not agree to this; but the empire promised the emperor armed assistance to restore the expelled Elector of Saxony and to protect the Austrian empress, whose Bohemian possessions were attacked (January 17, 1757). The Prussian envoy to the Diet allowed himself to be treated like a street vagabond by the notary who announced the decision of the Diet to him. The north of Germany protested against this decision; the princes and dukes of Lippe, Waldeck, Hesse-Kassel, Brunswick, Gotha and the Elector of Hanover found it more profitable to take money from England and join their troops with the English army sent to Westphalia than to pay a tax to maintain the imperial army and send their contingents to it. The German Empire and its rulers generally played a sad and shameful role during the Seven Years' War. Most of the German sovereigns were in the pay of France.

This is proven in the most detailed and irrefutable way by the official list of secret expenditures of the French government under Louis XV or the so-called Red Book, published during the revolution of 1789-1794. It shows, for example, that the Duke of Württemberg received 1,500,000 livres before the Seven Years' War, and 7,500,000 livres during the war; Elector of the Palatinate - before the war 5,500,000, during the Seven Years' War more than 11,000,000 livres; Bavaria was given about 9,000,000 until 1768 and the same amount to Saxony until 1763; the rulers of Lüttich, Mecklenburg and Nassau-Saarbrücken received, all together, about 3,000,000; Austria was paid 82,500,000 livres from 1767 to 1769. Even the Duke of Brunswick received from France in 1751 - 1756. 2,000,000, although he was in a close alliance with England and, at every opportunity, profited at the expense of the British. We see that the Protestant sovereigns could not resist the temptation of French money: this is a very characteristic feature of those times, especially since the pope publicly said that he considered the war with Prussia a religious war. He proved the sincerity of his words, firstly, by the fact that he openly gave Catholic states permission to impose taxes on the clergy for the war with Prussia, and secondly, by the fact that in 1758 he sent a consecrated hat and a consecrated sword to the Austrian General Daun, who defeated the Prussians at Hochkirch.

Until the summer of 1758, the British did nothing for Frederick, although he defended the cause of freedom and Protestantism. There were many changes in their ministry after they left it (in November 1755) Pitt the Elder and Ledge. The reasons for this were failures in Minorca and North America, as well as the fact that Pitt and Ledge defended principles in parliament that were contrary to the interests of the king and his son, the Duke of Cumberland, who was expected to be the commander of the army assigned to Germany: Pitt and Ledge rebelled against increasing the national debt and continental policy of the ministry; Only in July 1757 was a ministry formed that could hold firm. Its head was Pitt, with whom Ledge also joined the ministry; their comrades were the Duke of Newcastle and Charles Fox, who later received the title of Lord Holland. According to his plans for conquest in North America and the East Indies, Pitt found it necessary to enter into a close alliance with Prussia; This finally ended the discord between the English parties on matters of foreign policy. But even here, Frederick had not yet received energetic help from the British; they only started helping him the following year. In 1757, he almost alone had to fight against all his many opponents in the Seven Years' War.

In the spring of 1757 he invaded Bohemia; the Austrians themselves gave him an advantage, deciding to hold on to the defensive system in the Seven Years' War, despite the objections of the experienced and intelligent Brown; they were forced to retreat at all points, and Frederick took possession of their rich stores. They decided to enter into battle only when he began to seriously threaten Prague. Then under Prague a bloody battle took place on May 6, 1757; the loss on both sides was said to have amounted to 20,000 men. The battle ended in defeat for the Austrians; 12,000 of their troops were captured. Another important misfortune for them was that Brown received a mortal wound here. But the victory also cost Frederick dearly, because he lost Schwerin, whose noble self-sacrifice decided the victory. After this defeat, 40,000 Austrians were trapped in Prague. It seemed that they would suffer the same fate as the Saxons at Pirna, because they also had neither provisions nor heavy artillery. But fortunately for them, the entire right wing of their reserve army was saved and managed to unite with the main army, which was commanded by Daun. Frederick went to meet Daun halfway in order to push him back and then unhinderedly force Prague to surrender. But he found the enemy occupying a very strong by nature and well fortified position at Collinet; Having ventured to attack, he was repulsed with great damage (June 18, 1757).

Seven Years' War. Life Guards battalion at the Battle of Collin, 1757. Artist R. Knötel

This failure forced Frederick not only to lift the siege of Prague, but also to withdraw from Bohemia altogether. During his retreat, he suffered heavy losses and would have suffered even more severe damage if the Austrian generals had not been afraid to pursue him. He himself acted masterfully during the retreat; but his brother was not so happy, August Wilhelm, who was tasked with withdrawing one Prussian corps to Lusatia. Frederick did not make a difference between the prince and the soldier when necessary, and publicly reprimanded his brother severely. This upset the prince so much that, they say, he died of sadness (in June of the following year). Fortunately for Frederick, the Austrians left the task of liberating Saxony to the French and the imperial army, while they themselves went to Silesia and sent only a flying detachment Gaddika to Berlin. Gaddik managed to enter the capital of Prussia, took an indemnity from it, but was soon forced to retreat.

Part of the French troops that entered the Seven Years' War under the command of d'Estrée had already crossed the Rhine; the bribed electors of Cologne and the Palatinate welcomed the French with open arms. This army was supposed to occupy Westphalia and Hanover. But the French troops were completely demoralized. All the officers were nobles; they watched on a hike, like on a picnic, and lived in the camp, as they were used to living in Paris. In the fall, without leave, they left the army in droves to spend the winter in Paris. They had with them a lot of servants, brought with them a lot of things for comfort and entertainment; Therefore, the army's train was huge and slowed down its movements. French soldiers suffered a shortage during the Seven Years' War; hospitals were so bad that more people died in them than in battles. Noble officers did not observe any subordination; relying on their rank and connections, they often acted even contrary to each other.Even if the army had a good commander-in-chief, then in this situation it would be impossible to have unity in action; The belligerence and courage of which the French had no shortage even then were also in vain.

Having entered the Seven Years' War, d'Estrée walked through Westphalia very slowly; the Duke of Cumberland stood against him, with a Hanoverian army, reinforced by Brunswick, Prussian, Hessian, Gothic and Bückeburg detachments. This combined army retreated before the French and took a strong position at Hamelin. D "Estre slowly followed the enemy. Soubise, who first commanded the vanguard of d'Estrée, and then, by the favor of the court, received a separate army, did not think at all to coordinate his movements with the actions of the main army. Richelieu, who crossed the Rhine with the third army in July 1757, intrigued in every possible way to overthrow d'Estrée himself take his place. At the end of July, d'Estrée saw that Richelieu was gaining success in his machinations and would soon be appointed commander-in-chief in his place. Then he decided to give the Duke of Cumberland a battle before he was deprived of his main command. The battle took place on July 26, 1757 under Hamelin and it ended in favor of the French. Both the Duke of Cumberland and d'Estré are accused of making big mistakes. The chief of the general staff of the French army, Maillebois, also performed his duty poorly: he wanted no battle to break out before Richelieu's arrival.

Frederick indignantly withdrew his troops from the army of the Duke of Cumberland, who hastily retreated to Bremerwerde. The Duke was subordinate to the aristocrats who made up the Hanoverian ministry, and in the Seven Years' War they thought only about their interests, that is, about their estates. Frederick II contemptuously mentions this, saying that military affairs were completely incomprehensible to the limited bureaucratic circle of their thoughts and that, due to their incredulous stubbornness, nothing could be explained to them. These noble gentlemen sacrificed their homeland and honor to the enemy. They concluded a capitulation with Richelieu, who came to the French army shortly after the Battle of Hamelin; under the terms of capitulation, all of Hanover was given over to the French. A month later (September 8, 1757) the Duke of Cumberland concluded a shameful agreement with Richelieu through Danish mediation. Kloster-Tsevenskaya convention. It resolved issues that could only be decided by governments, not by generals. She also completely handed over the Electorate of Hanover to the power of the French, without even defining any conditions about who would govern it and how. The only condition beneficial for England and Prussia was that all the troops of the Duke of Cumberland, except for the Hanoverian ones, received permission to return to their homeland, and the Hanoverian ones could, without relying on weapons, settle down near Stade. Indirectly, this convention brought great benefits to Pitt. Georg, in annoyance, recalled his son. Pitt got rid of the Duke of Cumberland forever and could take a Prussian general from Frederick to command the Hanoverian army. Frederick chose a prince for this Ferdinand of Brunswick, who was in his service (this was the brother of Anton Ulrich, the husband of the short-term Russian Empress Anna Leopoldovna). Pitt did not approve the Kloster-Zeven Convention and entered into a close alliance with Frederick, whom he needed to support in order to more easily carry out the plans that he intended to implement during the Seven Years' War in the East Indies and North America. The French government also rejected the Tseven Convention. The Parisian court was very dissatisfied with the Duke of Richelieu because he did not destroy the army of the Duke of Cumberland or at least force it to lock itself in some fortress. Richelieu's military exploits were met with lampoons. They even said that he was bribed by the British and Prussians. This is a very possible thing on the part of a person who had no rules, no shame, no conscience. But Richelieu had other reasons to spare the King of Prussia; he did not approve of Pompadour's policy and, relying on his strength with the king, thought to persuade Louis to another system. He treated unfortunate Hanover terribly. He allowed his soldiers to go on all sorts of rampages, and plundered the country for his luxurious revelry.

While d'Estrée and Richelieu captured Hanover, Soubise united his army with the imperial army. Much time was lost in equipping this army, but it was finally formed. It consisted of a motley crowd of infantrymen; the contingent of another prelate or imperial count consisted of only 10 or 12 man; Maria Theresa supplied this army with cavalry. The incompetent Prince of Hildburghausen was appointed imperial commander-in-chief. Allied with him, Soubise entered Saxony. Frederick moved against the allies at the beginning of November. He had only 25,000 troops, the allies had twice as many; on November 5, 1757 he attacked the German-French army near the village Rosbach and without difficulty won a complete victory, it was simply the result of the enemy’s arrogance and carelessness and the panic fear that suddenly took possession of him. The defeat and flight of the defeated army was an amazing episode of the Seven Years' War; she fled, although only one wing of the Prussians had time to enter the battle; The French and imperial troops lost all their artillery and convoys, and fled to such an extent that the imperial troops came to their senses only in Franconia, and the French in Kassel.

From the Rosbach Field, Frederick hastily went to continue the Seven Years' War in Silesia, where his troops retreated before the Austrians, who outnumbered them three times, and where, shortly before his arrival, Schweidnitz and Breslau were surrendered to the enemy. The Austrians were confident that they would finally take control of Silesia, and brought the inhabitants to swear allegiance to the empress. Therefore, Frederick had to give a decisive battle as soon as he came into contact with the enemy. He had to hurry to save this province and with it the glory and magical power of his name. For the same reasons, the Austrians needed to avoid battle. That's what Down thought; but Prince Charles of Lorraine had a different opinion, and his rank gave him an advantage in the military council. The battle was fought on December 5, 1757 under Leithen. The Austrians were completely defeated and had to retreat to Bohemia. On December 20, 1757, the 20,000-strong garrison they left in Breslav surrendered.

Seven Years' War. Prussian infantry attack at the Battle of Leuthen, 1757. Artist Karl Röchling

Europe was amazed at the exploits that Frederick accomplished in the Seven Years' War in the last months of 1757. In Austria, the Leuthen defeat and the loss of Silesia made such a strong impression that public opinion dared to censure the commanders and the court - an event unprecedented in Austria; the government was forced for the second time to remove Prince Charles, the culprit of all the troubles, from the team. It was in vain that Emperor Franz covered his brother with his purple; in vain the police, a few days before Charles’s return to Vienna, issued a strange order so that no one would dare to blame the prince for the Battle of Leuthen, because he was only carrying out the orders of the Empress; in vain did Empress Maria Theresa herself insistently say that one should not yield to public opinion. It appeared so strong that Prince Charles considered it dangerous to retain the title of commander-in-chief and left for Brussels.

Happiness favored Frederick in 1757: he miraculously managed to defend Silesia from the Austrians, and the state of affairs at the St. Petersburg court paralyzed the actions of the Russian army, which was very numerous, that year. Apraksin And Fermor, who commanded it, entered the province of Prussia and began to devastate the country so fiercely that the commander of the Saxon corps, which had joined the Russians, was outraged by their cruelty and resigned his command in indignation. On August 30, 1757, the old Field Marshal Lewald, who commanded Frederick’s troops in the province of Prussia, had the imprudence to attack Gross-Jägersdorf with his 30,000 army against the Russian army, which was much more numerous. It was defeated, and the Russians could now go to continue the Seven Years' War for the Oder. But instead they retreated to the Russian border, and their retreat was so hasty that it looked like a hasty flight.

This another strange episode of the Seven Years' War occurred from the following circumstances. The Russian Empress Elizaveta Petrovna fell dangerously ill. Chancellor Bestuzhev-Ryumin made a plan after her death to remove the heir to the throne Peter from the throne and proclaim his son emperor; Peter's wife, Catherine, in all likelihood participated in this plan. To carry it out, Bestuzhev needed the army located in Prussia, and he won over Apraksin to his side. Shortly before the Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf, Apraksin was informed that the life of the Empress was in danger, and therefore hurried to the Russian border. But the empress did not die, but quickly recovered as soon as Apraksin managed to make this indiscretion. Having learned from Peter about the intrigue, she became extremely angry and sent Bestuzhev into exile, from which Catherine returned him in 1764; and the Empress did not want to see Grand Duchess Catherine for several months. Apraksin escaped punishment only by dying (August 30, 1758). In January 1758, the Russian army returned to continue the Seven Years' War in the province of Prussia and occupied the entire country as far as the Oder; this was all the easier because all the Prussian troops were withdrawn from there to Pomerania to fight the Swedes.

Stepan Apraksin, one of the four Russian commanders in chief in the Seven Years' War

The Swedish Council of State in the fall of 1757 decided to enter the Seven Years' War on the side of the enemies of Prussia, without listening to the king's public protest and without convening a Diet. The only incentive for the Swedes to go to war was that France offered subsidies, which went into the hands of the governing aristocrats and were necessary for them for pomp and extravagance. These gentlemen left the soldiers without pay and prepared neither provisions nor military supplies. There was no discipline in the army. The generals and officers were nobles, necessary and feared by the state council, so they were not afraid of punishment for misconduct. Under such circumstances, the Swedish army could do nothing important, and almost all of its participation in the Seven Years' War was limited to some movements in Pomerania.

Seven Years' War in 1758

The year 1758 opened up an excellent prospect for new successes in the Seven Years' War for Frederick, whom both friends and enemies recognized as a victorious hero, and the French considered almost one of their own, whom they should be proud of. Pitt called him a hero of Protestantism in Parliament and entered into an agreement with him on subsidies for a year; this agreement was then renewed annually until his death GeorgeII. Prussia and England pledged to make peace only together; England gave the King of Prussia 4,000,000 thalers a year: in addition, she assumed all the costs of maintaining the so-called allied army and promised to strengthen it with a significant number of English troops. But even with the assistance of England, Frederick could hold out against the enormous forces of his numerous enemies only by desperate means. He converted the 4,000,000 thalers received from England into 10,000,000. He squeezed Saxony like a sponge; he so terribly oppressed Mecklenburg, whose government recklessly joined the enemies, that during the Seven Years' War he took more than 17,000,000 thalers from the inhabitants of this small state. The Prussians dealt with Saxony in a completely Turkish way. For example, once, in order to extort money from the city of Leipzig, they locked the entire Leipzig magistrate in the Pleissenburg fortress, where the first Leipzig merchants sat for several weeks without candles, without chairs, without beds, even without straw. Seventy merchants fled, fearing a similar fate, and the Prussians confiscated their property. Frederick even took utensils from churches. In his writings, he justifies these harshnesses, explaining that the occupation of his Westphalian possessions by the enemy deprived him of 4,500,000 thalers of income, and that the entire province of Prussia was occupied by the Russians, and therefore he could not act otherwise. However, his opponents did no better during the Seven Years' War, and sometimes even worse. Russian troops raged in the province of Prussia, then in the Margraviate of Brandenburg, like wild hordes. The French army under Soubise committed outrageous cruelties against its allies, the Thuringians and Saxons, and under Richelieu allowed itself unheard-of robberies in Westphalia and Hanover.

Ferdinand of Brunswick with the allied army began the campaign in the winter, back in 1757, and by the spring of 1758 he had already achieved many successes. In March, the French were completely pushed back beyond the Elbe. We cannot talk in detail about all the actions of Ferdinand and will report only the most important facts. By the beginning of February, Richelieu had already so clearly shown his mediocrity and done so many nasty things that the French court was forced to recall him from the theater of the Seven Years' War. But in his place came another accomplice in the king’s orgies, the prince of the blood, Count of Clermont, and showed the same mediocrity, the same wastefulness as Richelieu. He retreated without a battle all the way to the Rhine, and his retreat resembled a hasty flight after a complete defeat. It is also true that Richelieu left him the army in the most pitiful state: the soldiers suffered the greatest shortage, while the quartermasters, suppliers and the like got rich; discipline was in such decline that one day the king had to demote 52 officers at once. In June 1758, Ferdinand crossed the Rhine, and the enemy did not notice this. Having completed this crossing, Ferdinand defeated Clermont at Krefeld. Then Clermont was recalled, and his successor, Marshal de Contad, managed to push Ferdinand beyond the Rhine. Soon after, Ferdinand's army was reinforced by 12,000 English corps. In September 1758 Contade marched through Westphalia to Lippe. Soubise, who received reinforcements, and one of Soubise’s generals, Broglie, defeated a detachment of the allied army near Kassel. A short time later, another corps of this army was completely defeated by Soubise near Minden; the defeat was due to the count's carelessness and inability Oberga commander of this corps. In winter, the French did not act, because their officers were still rushing uncontrollably to Paris. Finally, the court became convinced that Soubise was unable to manage the large operations of the Seven Years' War and appointed Contade commander-in-chief of both Rhine armies.

In other parts of Germany, the campaign of 1758 was also poor in decisive actions and also rich in devastation, as in Westphalia and on the Rhine. But the Russians treated the province of Prussia very leniently, because they already considered it a Russian region. But the provinces of Pomerania and Brandenburg suffered even more when the Russians entered them. Frederick took Schweidnitz, then invaded not Bohemia, as before, but Moravia, and besieged Olmutz. This unsuccessful siege occupied him for two months and gave Down time and opportunity to improve his army, whose soldiers were poorly armed and poorly trained. 28 June 1758 Austrian general Loudon captured a large convoy going to Frederick's army, and thereby laid the foundation for his glory. This loss and the successes of the Russian troops forced Frederick to lift the siege of Olmutz. In July, he made his famous retreat to Silesia, and, however, no less than his art, he owed the methodical slowness of the Austrians, which allowed him, after a successful retreat, to undertake a campaign against the Russians.

The Russians were besieging the Küstrin fortress. The Swedes moved forward. Daun was supposed to support the operations of both with a campaign in Saxony. But he delayed so much time that Frederick left him ahead with a forced march and on August 25, 1758 could give the Russian army a very famous in the history of the Seven Years' War Battle of Zorndorf. Both sides boasted of victory; but Frederick did not need to fight another battle to oust the Russians from Pomerania and Brandenburg, which they devastated: they themselves retreated to rest in the province of Prussia and Poland.

Seven Years' War. Frederick the Great at the Battle of Zorndorf. Artist Karl Roechling

Meanwhile, the imperial army, commanded by the prince, again penetrated into Saxony Friedrich of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken. But the second brother of Frederick the Great, Prince Henry, having made a successful campaign against the French, was already approaching Saxony; The imperial army hastily disappeared from him to Bohemia and appeared again at the theater of the Seven Years' War only when Daun went to Saxony (at the end of July). As soon as the Russians left Brandenburg, Frederick went to Daun. But both of them did not dare for a decisive battle for a long time; Finally, Frederick, who considered Daun too timid a general, became close to him at Gochkirke, having no more than 30,000 troops. Laudon, the best of the Austrian generals, took advantage of this carelessness and on October 14, 1758, unexpectedly attacked the Prussians. He took their camp, all their baggage and a hundred guns; the Prussians lost 9,000 killed; among others, Marshal Keith was killed here.

The defeated Frederick went to Silesia. While Daun and the Viennese military council were discussing the plan for further action in the Seven Years' War, the Prussian king moved forward from the Austrians and liberated the Silesian fortresses of Neisse and Kosel from the siege. Prince Henry, abandoned by Frederick in Saxony, forced Daun to retreat. When Frederick (20 November 1758) returned from Silesia to Saxony, Daun had already left for Bohemia, and the imperial army had retired to winter quarters in Franconia after an unsuccessful campaign against Leipzig and Torgau. The year ended with severe suffering in Saxony, where Frederick, as usual, took out the evil inflicted on him by the Austrians and Russians.

In France, the failures of the 1758 campaign created a strong rift between the court and the nation. Officers and soldiers, ladies and writers admired the King of Prussia as if they were their hero. It became fashionable to curse the alliance with Austria and praise Frederick. According to the then French writer, a person who visited Parisian theaters, in society and on walks, should have seemed that Paris was inhabited by Prussians, not French, and that the few who had a French view of the Seven Years' War almost did not dare to express it. But for Germany, this mood of its frivolous neighbors was more harmful than one might assume. The German sovereigns attached the greatest value to clever French compliments and manners, and most of all were carried away by this weakness those of them who were more capable than others of improving and renewing German life; their infatuation with the French completely alienated them from their people, and the German nobility followed their example. Frederick II himself, his brother, Henry, Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick and Crown Prince of Brunswick, also Ferdinand (then still a youth), were more French than Germans in terms of education, language, and all habits. Such German French were jealous of the people who were in the French service, and loudly said that only their body lived in Germany, and their soul belonged to French good society.

In France at the end of 1758 an important change took place. Cardinal de Berni was forced to resign, arousing the displeasure of the court because he wanted to somewhat reduce court expenses and end the unpopular Seven Years' War, seeing this as necessary due to financial disruption. Bernie was appointed Foreign Secretary to replace him. Duke of Choiseul, who held this position for 12 years and gradually took control of the military department and finances: he held on because he knew how to please the king, the Pompadour, and the Voltairean writers at the same time. He began his administration of an amazing undertaking by concluding a new treaty with Austria, which provided the Austrians with even more benefits than the treaty of 1756, and was completely silent about the interests of France.

Seven Years' War in 1759

The continuation of the Seven Years' War in 1759 was marked by the victory of the French. Prince Ferdinand of Brunswick wanted to take Frankfurt am Main from the French, which Soubise captured by cunning. But approaching this city, he met a French army under the command not of Prince Soubise, who had not yet returned to camp from the winter pleasures of Paris, but under the command Broglie, an experienced and prudent general. If Broglie had acted on the instructions sent to him from Paris, he would have met with certain death; but he followed his own thoughts and took up an extremely strong position on the mountains near Bergen, one and a half hours from Frankfurt. On April 13, 1759, Ferdinand stormed it and was defeated, but retreated in perfect order, and the French did not derive much benefit from their victory, because they lost a lot of time in inaction.

On April 25, 1759, Contade arrived in the French camp; in June and July he reached the Weser and crossed this river. But on July 31, Prince Ferdinand forced him to battle. This battle took place at Prussian Minden, ended unfavorably for the French, and they had to retreat beyond the Rhine and Main. They say that Marshal Contad made many mistakes in the Battle of Minden; but the main reason for his defeat was that it was impossible to establish any unity in the movements of the army, commanded by privileged generals; many aristocratic generals simply did not carry out the orders of the commander-in-chief, but acted as they pleased. However, the same thing happened to the victors: the French army was saved from complete destruction only thanks to the fact that the commander of the English cavalry, Lord Jermaine, disobeyed the orders of Prince Ferdinand three times. He was brought before a military court for this, the court found him guilty; but nevertheless, he subsequently became a minister and in this rank extremely spoiled the course of the North American war with his negligence and, when it was no longer possible to leave him as a minister, despite the resistance of many peers, he was made a member of the upper house with the title Lord Sackville. Great happiness for the French was that after the Battle of Minden, Ferdinand had to send a 12 thousandth corps from his army to help Frederick, whose position was then very bad; Ferdinand of Brunswick, the nephew of the commander-in-chief, sent with this corps to the east, had already crossed the Rhine and achieved success there. Thanks to this weakening of the allied army, the French settled into winter quarters in almost the same places where they stood last winter. In October 1759, Prince Soubise was deprived of his leadership, and it was entrusted to Contad and Broglie.

According to the plan drawn up by Frederick's enemies for the campaign of 1759, the Russians with the Austrian detachment of Laudon were supposed to capture Silesia, and the imperial army - Saxony. The Russians were now commanded in the war Saltykov, and Fermor remained with him simply as an adviser; they walked forward slowly, and the Prussian general Don, sent against them, greatly hampered their movement, so that they only reached the Oder in July. Dona was a cautious man and did not risk entering into battle with them; Frederick, who already despised the Russian army too much, recalled Dona because he did not want to give battle. Wedel, appointed in his place, carried out the king’s order to give battle under any circumstances. With desperate courage he attacked the Russians on July 23, 1759 at Zullichau And Kae and was broken. His defeat could have been disastrous for Prussia and changed the entire course of the Seven Years' War; but Saltykov and Fermor satisfied the wishes of Grand Duke Peter and did not approve of the empress’s policy. After the battle, they moved with extraordinary slowness towards Frankfurt on the Oder. Daun with the main Austrian forces stood for a long time without any action in Lusatia, finally moved forward, sent Gaddik to threaten Brandenburg, and Laudon with 18,000 troops to reinforce the Russian army. Frederick gave his brother Heinrich the difficult task of holding Daun, who far outnumbered Heinrich in strength, and he himself went against Gaddik and Loudon, but did not have time to prevent Loudon from uniting (August 7) ​​with the Russians.

Pyotr Saltykov, one of the four Russian commanders-in-chief in the Seven Years' War

Having united with Wedel's corps, Frederick attacked the Russians on August 12, 1759 at Kunersdorf , near Frankfurt. He suffered such a defeat that for him the Seven Years' War already seemed lost, and at first he himself despaired. But it was precisely in this difficult situation that the inexhaustibility of his mind was most clearly revealed. He quickly gathered his army, which was being ruined in all directions, put it in order and strengthened it. The disagreement between the Russians and the Austrians also helped him a lot. Loudon wanted the victors to go together to Berlin and end the Seven Years' War with its capture. But Saltykov did not at all want to help the Austrians acquire dominion in Germany, and until the end of August he stood motionless in Frankfurt, saying that his army was unable to do anything until it recovered from two battles in which it suffered very heavy losses. Finally he went to Silesia, but at the end of October he returned from there to Poland.

Seven Years' War. Battle of Kunersdorf, 1759. Painting by A. Kotzebue, 1848

Meanwhile, Prince Henry showed himself to be an excellent general, acting masterfully in Saxony. We cannot speak in detail about this campaign; Let's just say that Henry did not allow the Austrians to unite with the Russians for some time. But in the fall the Prussian general Fink made a mistake, as a result of which (November 21, 1759) he was captured by the enemy with his entire corps, consisting of 12,000 people. This misfortune greatly damaged the success of the actions of Frederick, who was then fighting Daun in Silesia.

Seven Years' War in 1760

The struggle of Ferdinand of Brunswick with the French the following year (1760) ended with both warring armies remaining for the winter in almost the same positions as they had occupied in the previous year. The Crown Prince of Brunswick scored several successes against the French and their German allies; but he was so praised for them by his own and others that he received an exaggerated opinion of his talents, and long after the Seven Years' War, already in old age, he had to pay for this self-delusion.

In 1760, Frederick showed more brilliantly than ever what a brilliant commander with a good army can do, acting against generals fighting according to school tactics and strategy, even if these generals had cold prudence and a huge mass of troops, but troops devoid of an animating spirit. Frederick's Army, was no longer the same as at the beginning of the Seven Years' War, and the generals were not the same, his treasury was depleted; the province of Prussia was occupied by the Russians, Westphalia was defenselessly open to the enemy; Saxony, Silesia and Brandenburg were devastated; he himself sometimes lost heart and despaired of the future; but still did not give up. Military operations in Silesia and Saxony began in 1760 only in June; at the very beginning, Frederick had the misfortune of losing his fortress and his entire corps. His general Fouquet, on whose abilities he had placed too much faith, recklessly entered into battle with Laudon at Landsgut, June 28, 1760. 6,000 Prussians were captured; the rest of Fouquet's army was scattered and then destroyed. A few weeks later, the important fortress of Glatz was surrendered to the enemy by the commandant, who was recommended and promoted by the same Fouquet.

Around this time, Daun finally moved from Saxony to Silesia; but Frederick began to threaten Dresden and the imperial army; Daun was forced to return and rescued Dresden, part of which had already been burned by Frederick. For this, Laudon burned part of Breslau; but Prince Henry forced him to lift the siege of this city, quickly moving from Saxony to Silesia, Frederick defeated Laudon on August 15, 1760 Liegnitz; Saltykov took advantage of this to separate from the Austrians and return beyond the Oder. In September, Frederick was again in a hurry to the Elbe to continue the Seven Years' War by fighting against the Austrian corps Lassi, which was heading to Berlin. Saltykov sent reinforcements to Lassi, but only as a result of strict orders from St. Petersburg. On October 9, 1760, Lassi entered Berlin; the city and its surroundings, of course, had to suffer from the enemy, but less than could be expected: Russian commanders kept their soldiers in discipline. Four days later the enemy left Berlin, and the Russians who were at Loudon returned to their main army. She was inactive for some time; The Austrians fought the Prussians in Saxony.

The imperial army achieved some successes in Saxony over the Prussians, who were twice as small in number, and therefore in the fall Frederick again came from Silesia to the Elbe. He went to the fortress Torgau, very important for him and in the hands of the enemy. It was covered by two armies: Daun, who followed Frederick from Silesia, and Laudon. On November 3, 1760, the king attacked Daun, who took a very strong position; This battle, called the Battle of Torgau, was the bloodiest in the entire Seven Years' War. The Prussians won a brilliant victory; its consequence was the capture of Torgau. But still, Frederick was in a desperate situation. Saxony was no longer in his power; the Margraviate of Brandenburg and part of Silesia were devastated; the other part of Silesia was occupied by the Austrians; in the west, the French advanced to Gotha and Göttingen. To all this were added other bad circumstances: in August 1759, the Spanish king Ferdinand VI died, and Spain joined the alliance against Prussia; and in October 1760 George II died, and it was probably to be expected that Frederick’s only true ally, Pitt, would be forced to relinquish power.

The struggle between England and France in the colonies

Spending a lot of money on the war in Germany, Pitt had a very sure calculation that the British would receive huge interest on this money in the East Indies and America. The events that took place during the Seven Years' War in the colonies of the east and west were very important for the future of Europe. Let's name the main ones.

During the Seven Years' War, the English nation acquired vast expanses of land in the East Indies and America, acquired colossal wealth, and its growing industry gained a boundless field. But no one foresaw that, while gaining in external prosperity, the nation suffered an irreparable loss in the character of its internal life. However, anyone who is not inclined to unconditionally admire the prosperity of industry and the development of industrial civilization must still agree that the British, during the reign of George II, took away from France the primacy in Europe that it had enjoyed since the time of Louis XIV. It must also be said that there was a certain moral benefit from that admiration for English prosperity and government, which became a European fashion since the time of Montesquieu. People gradually came to the conviction that freedom, light and living movement bring material benefits to peoples, in other words, that these things also have a monetary price, which in our time is recognized as the only measure of happiness.

The struggle between France and England in the East Indies, which coincided with the Seven Years' War in Europe, gave rise to the founding of that huge Anglo-East Indian kingdom, which now has about 150 million inhabitants. The British preparations for war served as a pretext for the Nabob of Bengal to destroy the English trading post in Calcutta, which was then still an insignificant settlement. Having taken possession of it, the nabob committed horrific cruelty: 146 people were locked in a small prison room known as the “Black Pit”; it was only 11 feet long and 18 feet wide; out of 146 people locked in it, 123 died in terrible suffering in one night (June 1756). The British in the East Indies had under the command Lord Clive a small army consisting of 2,400 people. It was so irritated by this barbarity that it committed feats similar to those of the warriors of Pizarro and Cortes, and, of course, committed the same robberies. In 1757, Clive, having defeated the Bengals in Battle of Plassey, had already destroyed French influence in Bengal and in place of the previous nabob appointed another, who had to pay huge sums to the English East India Company, Lord Clive and his soldiers.

Richard Clive and Nabob Mir Jafar after the Battle of Plassey, 1757

A year later, the French sent an army to the East Indies under the command of the Count Lally. A hot-tempered man, a rude despot, Lally quarreled with all the French authorities in the East Indies, with his officers and with the commander of the French fleet in the East Indies; this, of course, helped the success of the British. A few years later the French were completely driven out of the East Indies; at the beginning of 1761 they even lost Pondicherry and Mage, so that as a result of the Seven Years' War, of all their possessions in the Eastern Ocean and beyond this ocean, they only had the islands of Bourbon and Ile-de-France. The English East India Company conquered a huge kingdom.

The war in America also ended unhappily for the French. They lost part of their West Indian possessions in 1759, and in the fall of the following year the British took possession of all of Canada. We skip all the details of this part of the Seven Years' War; Let us only mention that on September 13, 1759, the British, under the most unfavorable circumstances, won a victory near Quebec; general Wolf Having won it, he lost his life in it, but his name acquired immortality among the English. French possessions in Africa were also conquered by the British. In addition, the British captured and destroyed many French military and merchant ships in all seas and made devastating landings on the northern coast of France several times.

The death of General Wolf at the Battle of Quebec, 1759. Artist B. West, 1770

Comparing the state of England and France at the time of the death of George II, we will understand why George, at the end of his reign, gained popularity among the English, and Louis XV, whom the people revered in an idolatrous manner as recently as 1744, at that time fell into contempt among the French. who sang abusive songs about him. England then bore the costs of the war in all parts of the world; but on the other hand, she acquired the treasures of all countries with her growing industry and her dominion over world trade, and the ruler of the English state, Pitt, became famous throughout Europe, which saw in him the ideal of an excellent minister. France, on the contrary, during the Seven Years' War lost its colonies and its trade; its warships and merchant ships were destroyed or taken by the British. Her army covered itself in shame during the Seven Years' War; she herself was given as prey to greedy tax farmers; the government even took away church utensils by force, because other sources of income were insufficient; government credit was exhausted; taxes were raised to the utmost, and court fun did not stop. Finally, the rulers of the French state, Pompadour, Cardinal Bernie, Duke of Choiseul, were people of such bad reputation that even crimes were attributed to them that they probably did not commit.

Having become a minister, Choiseul immediately began to persuade Spain to take part in the Seven Years' War. On the other hand, Pitt persuaded her to an alliance with England. The efforts of both ministers remained in vain as long as Ferdinand VI lived. But when after his death (in 1759) he ascended the Spanish throne CharlesIII, the former king of Naples, Choiseul received certain hope of achieving his goal. Charles had a disposition towards France, was proud of the name of Bourbon, and Choiseul enjoyed his special gratitude, for the French minister helped him make one of his sons (Ferdinand IV) his successor in Naples, instead of his brother, Philip, who should have been his successor according to the conditions Peace of Aachen. The new Spanish king immediately entered into negotiations with France; their subject was the conclusion of the closest alliance between all members of the Bourbon dynasty or the so-called “ Bourbon family treaty" The negotiations lasted a year and a half and were conducted in the same way as the Kaunitz negotiations that preceded the Seven Years' War to conclude an alliance between Austria and France. This was due to the fact that the Spaniards were just as opposed to an alliance with France as the French were against an alliance with Austria. For this reason, the matter was conducted secretly from the ministers between Choiseul, Pompadour and King Louis, the King of Spain and his envoy in Paris, Grimaldi. During these negotiations, Choiseul made peace proposals to the powers participating in the Seven Years' War. He either hoped to cover the negotiations between France and Spain from England, or satisfied the demand of his king, who wanted to conclude a separate peace with England. An attempt was even made to convene a peace congress: but all this led to nothing. After some time, England entered into separate negotiations with France.

Seven Years' War in 1761

After the death of George II (in 1760), his 23-year-old grandson became king of England, GeorgeIII. The new king was not a gifted man, but her mother and friend, a Scotsman Lord Bute, gave him an education that was far from preparing him to be a good constitutional king. They instilled in him a sanctimonious zeal for worship, developed in him an awkward stubbornness and imbued him with absolute concepts. Having become king, he immediately began to be offended by the concepts and decisive character of Pitt, who in his eyes was a predator who had taken government power from the king. However, Pitt retained control of foreign affairs for about another year, although George soon after his accession to the throne gave a place in the ministry to his mentor and friend, Lord Bute (in March 1761). Pitt was forced to resign six months later by Bute's appointment as minister. The reason for this was the turn that negotiations with Spain took. Having received news of the friendship being established between France and Spain, Pitt rightly concluded that the French negotiations with the English ministry were intended only to force the Spanish king to conclude a family treaty with France. This goal was now achieved: in August 1761, Charles III signed a family treaty, according to which all lines of the Bourbon house mutually guaranteed their possessions and pledged to help each other in all wars, including the Seven Years. Having received reliable news of the conclusion of this treaty, Pitt demanded in his office that war be immediately declared on Spain. Lord Bute and the king rejected his demand, and he retired (5 October 1761).

The negotiations further slowed the already slow progress of the Seven Years' War in Germany. In the summer of 1761, the French could not do anything against Ferdinand of Brunswick, although they were much more numerous than him. Their success was hampered, firstly, by the superiority of Ferdinand over their commanders, and secondly, by the disagreement between Soubise and Broglie who were jealous of each other; A huge baggage train also interfered, hindering all their movements. Four companies of the noble guard, 130 people each, kept with them a convoy, in which each company had at least 1,200 horses; From this fact alone one can judge what the supply of the entire army was like. In the winter of 1761 - 1762, the French took up winter quarters in almost the same places that they occupied the previous winter.

The imperial army and the Swedes played the same sad role in 1761 as before; was now the imperial commander-in-chief Serbelloni; his army was easily held by several small detachments of Prince Henry. The Swedes made attempts from time to time to enter Brandenburg, but constantly failed. In Pomerania itself they established themselves only when the Russian general Rumyantsev mastered Kohlberg; Heyden He defended this fortress for a long time and courageously, but the lack of provisions forced it to surrender (December 16, 1761). However, even after this, the Prussians, who took up winter quarters in Mecklenburg, kept the Swedes closely confined in one corner of Pomerania for the whole winter. This year the Swedish Diet began to strongly condemn their country's participation in the Seven Years' War; but the ruling oligarchs continued it against the will of the Sejm, as they began without its consent.

Capture of Kolberg by the Russians during the Seven Years' War, 1761. Painting by A. Kotzebue, 1852

Daun stood against Prince Henry in Saxony all summer; Only in November and December did he manage to oust the Prussians from part of Saxony. Decisive action was expected in 1761 in the Silesian theater of the Seven Years' War, where Laudon with most of the Austrian forces and Frederick were located. But even there only small battles took place, because Frederick had to take care of his weakened army, and Laudon was waiting for the Russians, who moved late and slowly. In July 1761 they finally arrived, but their commander-in-chief, Buturlin, did not think of acting seriously in the Seven Years' War and on September 9 went back from Silesia, leaving the Austrians with only a 20,000-strong corps Chernysheva. With Chernyshev, Laudon went to Schweidnitz. The garrison of Schweidnitz was weak, although it was the most important fortress in the whole of Prussia after Magdeburg; Loudon took it by storm on October 1st. This was the only important matter of the main Austrian army during the entire campaign of 1761.

At the end of 1761, Frederick's situation was desperate. His army was reduced to the point that he had barely 60,000 men; Pitt's resignation was an even heavier blow to him than the loss of Schweidnitz, Kolberg and a large part of Saxony. Pitt's successor, Lord Bute, did not renew the subsidy agreement in 1762 and wanted to make peace separately from Frederick in order to strengthen his ministry. But he showed great mediocrity in his efforts for peace: the Seven Years' War went happily for England, and he carelessly and unwisely expressed his idea of ​​sacrificing Frederick for the sake of peace not only to the Austrians, but also to Frederick's admirer, Peter III, who ascended the Russian throne in January 1762.

Seven Years' War in 1762

On October 5, 1761, Pitt was forced to resign because he wanted to declare war on Spain, and the king and Bute did not agree to this. But on January 2, 1762, Pitt's successor, Lord Bute, himself had to do what Pitt wanted: the promulgation of the family treaty between France and Spain forced him to do this. That same January, Admiral Rodney was sent with the English fleet against the French West Indian possessions. In addition, the British equipped a squadron with a landing force to occupy or devastate the Spanish island of Cuba, and after a while another expedition against the Philippine Islands. The Spaniards wanted to force Portugal, which was in an alliance with England, into a war with the British, and for this they decided to do with it what Frederick did with Saxony. But they met resistance in Portugal that they did not expect, and their plan collapsed. The French lost all their West Indian colonies in 1762; all their West Indian trade was destroyed, like the East Indian trade before. Spain, of course, could not fight the British either by land or at sea, and also suffered enormous losses. The rich warehouse of its trade, Havana, was taken by the British. Manila, the main point of the Philippine Islands, was also taken. The British found huge booty in Havana and Manila. In addition, they captured the Spanish warship Hermione at sea, which was carrying a cargo of precious metals to Spain worth 6,000,000 rubles. silver; this prize is considered the richest ever taken by the English. The Spaniards lost 12 battleships in 1762, and only once did they manage to take some booty from the British: having conquered one of the Portuguese colonies in South America, they captured 26 English merchant ships there with rich cargo and large reserves of various goods.

The victories and conquests of the British in the Seven Years' War prepared a great difficulty for George III and his favorite, Bute. They wanted to make peace as quickly as possible, because both, as narrow-minded and strictly religious people, extremely hated Frederick for his intelligence and free way of thinking; and in England the number of people who were dissatisfied with the fact that they were leaving the King of Prussia without help increased every day. The opposition agitated the people by all means. All the Whigs left the ministry; all efficient people refused positions and were replaced by incapable people. The Whigs began to raise the strength of the Democrats against the king and the minister, who opposed the will of the nation. The king and Bute really wanted the French to achieve success in the German theater of the Seven Years' War, to make conquests there, in exchange for which they could offer the return of some of the conquests made by the British in America and Asia, and thus find the possibility of reconciliation. But in 1762 there was little hope for French success in Germany.

Broglie was replaced, and the army was entrusted to the mediocre prince Soubizou; Ferdinand of Brunswick then had almost as many troops as Soubise, and he pushed him back. This put both the English ministers and the Duke of Choiseul in great difficulty, who now also wanted to end the Seven Years' War and was conducting secret negotiations with Lord Bute. Bute hotly reproached Choiseul for the mediocrity of the French commander-in-chief, and Soubise received orders to go forward again, at any cost. But Soubise could not even maintain his previous positions and was very glad that, despite the successes of his opponents, on November 3, preliminary conditions for peace between France and England were signed. Prince Ferdinand was indignant at George, as were the British; He refused the command in annoyance. The reconciliation of France with England brought Frederick the benefit that, under the preliminary conditions of peace, the French stopped the war with him; but he remained left solely to his own forces. At the same time, he had the misfortune to see that in Russia the situation had changed to his disadvantage. We must now say what a change has taken place in Russia.

On January 5, 1762 (December 25, 1761 old style) Empress Elizabeth died, and Peter III became Russian Emperor. This gave the King of Prussia the first hope of getting out of the labyrinth in which he was then located. Peter was an enthusiastic admirer of Frederick, and it was known that in everything he followed only his inclinations and whims. As soon as he ascended the throne, he entered into friendly relations with Prussia. With his usual morbid impatience, he hurried to restore peace between Russia and Prussia, without listening to his ministers, without paying any attention to the treaties between Russia and the powers of the Austrian Union. On February 23 (1762) he announced to Russia's allies in the Seven Years' War that he was separating from them. On March 16, 1762 he was imprisoned Stargarde peace between Russia and Prussia. On May 5, this world was turned into a defensive and offensive alliance. Even before the signing of the treaty on the alliance, Chernyshev, who had gone to Poland, received orders to go to Silesia and unite with the Prussians.

Russian Emperor Peter III. Portrait by Pfanzelt, 1762

The direct consequence of this change in Russian policy was the reconciliation of Sweden with Prussia. The Swedish king, Adolf Friedrich, was constantly against the Seven Years' War, which brought Sweden neither glory nor benefit, but cost in 1758 - 1761. 8,000,000 thalers to this poorest of European states. The Diet, convened at the end of 1760 and lasting until June 1762, also demanded peace; in addition, he generally strongly condemned the oligarchs who had dominated Sweden since 1718. Adolf Frederick could easily have overthrown the oligarchy, especially since Peter III, who hated the party that started the war with Prussia, would have helped him in this. But in his simple-minded honesty, the King of Sweden remained faithful to his oath and was content with forcing the frightened oligarchs to conclude a withdrawal from the Seven Years' War. Negotiations for peace were started by his wife, the sister of Frederick II, who had previously experienced many insults from the State Council; After peace was concluded, the State Council publicly thanked her for her participation in this matter. On April 7, 1762, a truce was concluded; On May 22 it was signed in Hamburg peace between Prussia and Sweden. According to its terms, everything was restored to the situation it was before the war.

Frederick's friends did not have long to rejoice at the alliance with the Russians. Peter III was deposed that same year by a coup on June 28, 1762, and his wife Catherine II ascended the Russian throne. She had no desire to fight in the Seven Years' War for Austria and ordered Peter's order to return the fortresses of the province of Prussia to the Prussians. But she recalled her army to Russia, which had just managed to unite with the Prussians. However, Frederick knew how to make excellent use of the short time when Chernyshev’s army was with him. His successes were also helped by the fact that the Austrians recklessly withdrew most of their troops from Silesia in the fall of 1761. With Chernyshev, Frederick pushed Daun beyond Schweidnitz and cut him off from communications with this fortress. This was done on July 21, when Chernyshev had already received orders to go to Russia; but to please the king, he postponed his campaign for three days and took such a position that it seemed to the Austrians, who did not know about the orders he had received, as if he wanted to support Frederick's attack. Having pushed back Daun, Frederick turned all his efforts to taking Schweidnitz; the possession of this fortress strengthened his retention of Upper Silesia during peace negotiations and served him as a reward for the Westphalian fortresses that still remained in the hands of the French. But not until October did he manage to force the garrison of Schweidnitz to surrender.

The imperial army after Serbelloni was commanded by two generals, and it had already been expelled from Saxony twice. Serbelloni, who commanded the Austrian army in Saxony, acted so sluggishly and inexperiencedly that the Prussians managed to freely pass into Bohemia and take indemnities there for some time. Gaddik was appointed to replace Serbelloni in September. The new Austrian general called upon the entire imperial army, but was nevertheless pushed back by Prince Henry. On October 29, 1762, the prince won a brilliant victory over the imperial army under Freyberg; the defeated lost more than 7,000 people.

The Battle of Freiberg was the last in the Seven Years' War: after it, negotiations began between Prussia and Austria. They began thanks to the efforts of the Crown Prince of Saxony, who did his best to save his unfortunate country from the scourge of war. It helped him that on November 3, 1762, England and France had already signed preliminary peace terms. Negotiations between Prussia and Austria began in December; Before that, a truce was concluded between them. Fortunately for Germany, the matter did not drag on longer than the beginning of the next year: almost all German lands were brought to the saddest state by the Seven Years' War. Westphalia, Hesse, Brandenburg, Silesia and Bohemia were, one might say, completely devastated; Saxony suffered even more; Hanover was ruined; The Prussian general Kleist managed to rob Franconia and Thuringia once again just before the end of the Seven Years' War.

on the conclusion of the Paris and Hubertsburg peace treaties of 1763 that ended the Seven Years' War - see the article